Diplomats under fire in Iraq
2005-07-06 08:16
Baghdad - Bahrain's top diplomat in Iraq was wounded in an ambush on Tuesday and the Pakistani ambassador narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, as insurgents targeted Muslim envoys in an apparent new tactic.
Three days after the abduction of Egypt's envoy, the Iraqi government's spokesperson said the attacks were a "a message of terror" to dissuade governments from expanding ties with the war-torn country.
Pakistan said it was moving its ambassador Yunis Khan to Amman.
The attack on Khan happened as two cars came up from behind and fired on his vehicle as he was about a kilometre from his residence in the capital's central Mansur district.
Khan said: "I am safe but it was a very narrow escape. We sped out of danger, but it was an extremely dangerous situation."
'Gunmen open fire on Hassan al-Ansari'
Khan said the attack provoked a firefight between his guards and the assailants in which one of the attackers was hit.
Another embassy official said: "This is a new thing that we have to confront."
An interior ministry source said gunmen in a pickup truck earlier opened fire on Hassan al-Ansari, the Bahraini charge d'affaires, while he was travelling in his car with diplomatic license plates also in Mansur.
Ansari was treated at Yarmuk hospital for a gunshot wound before leaving with guards.
Witnesses said he was ambushed by at least eight gunmen after leaving his residence.
'Two men shot the diplomat'
A butcher's shop owner said: "Two men got out of their cars and screamed at him 'get out of your car' and at me 'get back inside'."
He said, instead, the diplomat kept going, and two of the men shot at him with an assault rifle and pistol.
Ansari's car slowed down, but when the men ran after him he ran and managed to get away.
Two hundred meters further on, Ansari stopped near a policeman and cried out: "I am a diplomat, help me!".
The policeman named Adel said "he was bleeding a lot. His suit, case and car were covered with blood. A short time later, a police patrol passed by and took him to the hospital".
US-led coalition in Iraq
Neither the rich Gulf kingdom of Bahrain nor Pakistan had contributed troops to the United States-led coalition in Iraq to make them obvious targets of insurgents. Bahrain was home though to a large US naval base.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa said: "Security threats to Arab diplomats in Baghdad - whether it be by way kidnapping as happened to the Egyptian diplomat or by targeting the Bahraini envoy - only serve the interests of those trying to sever links between the Arab world and Iraq."
He called on the abductors of Egypt's Ihab al-Sharif to release him.
No group had claimed responsibility for his kidnapping yet.
He was set to become the first ambassador from an Arab nation to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein and was the first head of mission to be abducted since Iraq's hostage crisis began more than 13 months ago.